The Architecture of the Churches of Southern Urals in the 18th-19th Century

The subject of this paper seems to be important due to the ever-increasing interest in architectural traditions of Russia’s regions. The goal of the study is to reveal features of the architecture of the churches of southern Urals in the 18th and 19th centuries. The key approach I chose for this study was historical architectural analysis and integration of data from archives and field surveys. A novel step-by-step analysis of the evolution of church design in the region since ancient times till nowadays is offered. The beginning of the process is presumed to date back to 18th c., as the active development of the South Urals by Russians began at this time. Descriptions and analyses of the region’s lesser-known specimen of religious architecture are introduced for the scientific use based on the author’s own in situ investigations. Lots of archival materials from Russia's central and regional repositories are considered and published for the first time. The presented study results can be used as a basis for further research in the field of religious architecture of the Southern Urals. Keywords—Russian settlements; Southern Ural; architecture of churches; half-timbered churches